History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 928: The Fall of Southern Han
Pan Mei entered the undefended Guangzhou City as a conqueror, captured Gong Chengshu and other eunuchs, members of the Southern Han royal family, and 97 civil and military officials, and imprisoned them in Longde Palace along with Liu Xiong. Liu Baoxing fled to a civilian home and was also successfully captured. Of course, he could not escape the carpet-style and dragnet-style search unless he was hung in a warehouse. Pan Mei then packed up these hundreds of people and took them to Bianzhou.

There were more than one hundred (some say five hundred) eunuchs in gorgeous costumes lining the streets to welcome the Song army. They vied with each other to sing praises for the Song army and thanked the royal army for saving the people of Lingnan from dire straits.

Pan Mei glanced at them from the side, sneered and said, "It is these eunuchs who have dragged the people of Lingnan into dire straits. I, the general, have been ordered to punish the criminals and plead guilty, just to eliminate this scourge for Lingnan!" Then he ordered them all to be beheaded, turning them into dead eunuchs.

With the capture of Liu Xiong, the Southern Han Dynasty was declared destroyed. In this battle, the Song Dynasty gained a total of 60 states, 240 counties, and 172,630 households.

When the good news reached Bianzhou, Zhao Kuangyin was very pleased and appointed Pan Mei as the governor of Shannan East Road.

When Liu Xiong was on his way to Beijing, Zhao Kuangyin asked the civil and military officials about the details of the prisoner presentation ceremony, but no one in the court knew the details, so he had to send someone to ask Zhang Zhao, who had retired at home.

Zhang Zhao, originally named Zhang Zhaoyuan, was born in the late Tang Dynasty. He served in the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou, and Song dynasties. He participated in the compilation of the Old Book of Tang, and his book "The Art of War" was treasured by Chai Rong. Some people even believed that Chai Rong was able to conquer the world because of this book. Zhang Zhao has been introduced in detail in the previous article.

In the early Song Dynasty, Hanlin Secretary Tao Gu (who helped Zhao Kuangyin prepare the abdication edict in advance) was corrupt, perverted the law, and committed malpractices for personal gain. When Zhao Kuangyin questioned him, Tao Gu wanted to drag Zhang Zhao into the water and ask him to give false testimony to help him get out of trouble. As a result, Zhang Zhao was so angry that he took off his hat to protest, which was a violation of the etiquette of a subject, and was ordered to retire. Zhang Zhao was already 70 years old at that time.

An old man in the family is like a treasure. Now, Zhao Kuangyin suddenly remembered this 77-year-old minister who had served in five dynasties, so he sent someone to ask him about it. Zhang Zhao was indeed eloquent, citing classics and describing the rules and regulations of the captive offering ceremony. He also cited other sources and recalled the captive offering ceremony he had personally experienced during the Five Dynasties.

Zhao Kuangyin completely copied Zhang Zhao's oral statement. The following year (972), 78-year-old Comrade Zhang Zhao died of illness and left us prematurely.

Emperor Liu Xiong and his ministers were escorted north. When they arrived in Jiangling, they suddenly found people welcoming them on both sides of the road. The leader was very respectful to Liu Xiong. Liu Xiong was full of doubts because he didn't know the person in front of him at all.

Huang Dezhao, a former Imperial Academy scholar who was accompanying him, introduced him to him: "This man is Pang Shijin, an official of our Southern Han."

"Ah?" Liu Yan was puzzled, because this place is thousands of miles away from the Southern Han, how could the officials of the Southern Han appear here? So he asked: "Why are they here?" As mentioned in the previous article, during the Liu Yan period, in order to facilitate trade and tribute with the Central Plains, the "Southern Han Embassy in Jingnan" was set up in Jiangling City, the capital of Jingnan, which was responsible for the transportation of goods and also served as a transit station for the exchange of diplomatic intelligence and other information. Pang Shijin was the ambassador to Jingnan. Later, when the Southern Han broke off diplomatic relations with the Central Plains, the embassy was not closed and continued to operate as a trade cooperation organization until Liu Yan came here today.

After listening to Huang Dezhao's explanation of the whole story, Liu Xiong was overwhelmed with emotion and burst into tears. He said, "I have been in office for fourteen years, but I knew nothing about this. Today, I learned that the so-called ancestral heritage was actually the territory of the Great Dynasty! (Referring to the Southern Han Dynasty paying tribute to the Central Plains and paying homage)"

After saying this, the king and his ministers cried for a long time.

This conversation was recorded by a historian of the Song Dynasty. Liu Yan seemed to have a sudden realization and changed his mind, admitting that Southern Han had been the territory of the Central Plains since ancient times. I personally think that if Liu Yan was not trying to please the officials of the Song Dynasty around him or to shirk his responsibilities, then the original words might be inconsistent with the records. I personally tend to sigh at the strength of the ancestral foundation, and the tentacles of Southern Han could reach thousands of miles away, and they could maneuver with the major forces in the Central Plains with ease.

After Liu Xiong arrived in Beijing, Zhao Kuangyin first sent the Vice-Minister Lu Yuqing to interrogate him, asking him about his fickleness and the crime of arson that destroyed the treasury. As expected, Liu Xiong pushed all the responsibility onto the eunuchs Gong Chengshu, Li Tuo, Xue Chongyu and others. Just like he was unaware of the embassy in Jing, Liu Xiong dressed himself up as a puppet emperor and knew nothing about state affairs.

The next day (May 5), the staff tied Liu Xiong and his officials around the neck with silk and led them to the Imperial Ancestral Temple like dogs to comfort their ancestors and report the good news of the recovery of Lingnan. Afterwards, Zhao Kuangyin arrived at Mingde Gate and sent Lu Duoxun, the Minister of Punishment, to read the imperial edict, announcing the crimes of Liu Xiong and others.

Liu Xiong defended himself, saying that he was only 16 years old when he inherited the pseudo-throne, and was still a child. Gong Chengshu and others were all important ministers chosen by my father to take care of the orphan. They held the military and political power, and he was just a puppet. In Lingnan, they were the real local emperors! Then he knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.

The eunuch Li Tuo remained silent when facing the questioning. Wang Gui, the former counselor of the Southern Han Dynasty who was kneeling beside him, suddenly became anxious and confronted Li Tuo, "In the past in Guangzhou, the power of mechanical maintenance was controlled by you. The fire in the palace was also arson by the inner palace. Now that the emperor is questioning you, who do you want to put the blame on? Ah - bah -" He scolded him, spit on his face, and slapped him in the face.

Zhao Kuangyin ordered the beheading of eunuchs such as Gong Chengshu and Li Tuo, and then pardoned Liu Xiong, and gave him clothes, jade belts, saddles, horses and other items, and granted him the title of "Enshe Hou". All those from the pseudo-emperor's brother Liu Baoxing and below were rewarded.

(End of this chapter)